Poisoned Trees and Not-So-Hidden Secrets
by RaspberryAngel
Summary: Arthur had many odd theory's on secrets, one of which involved poisoned trees and a supposed 'sixth sense'/ Arthur can always tell when people are keeping things from him. (Arthur's musings.)


Poisoned Trees and Not-So-Hidden Secrets

Arthur thought of secrets as one would ponder the thought of poisoned trees.

Secrets could be dangerous, or at least put you under the illusion that they were. Say you considering a poisoned tree, the name puts you off immediately, who could consider anything with the word 'poisoned' before it as something appealing?

It was the same with Arthur and secrets. If someone were to look him solemnly in the eye and pronounce that they had an important secret to tell him it would normally make him feel decidedly uncomfortable. The strange thing was, however, that even though Arthur hated secrets and was forever wary of their prowess and the damage they could cause, he always knew when someone was keeping something from him.

Take Gwaine, for example. The minute Arthur had met him he had noticed the 'secretive air' about him. It was this slightly disturbing feeling that made Arthur question Gwaine's heritage, Gwaine was a commoner as far as Arthur knew, but he carried himself as a noble and never mentioned his family. The feeling that Gwaine was hiding something just got worst when Uther banished him. Even when he became a knight Arthur still had his suspicions. Sometimes during training or particularly long silences, (brought on when a conversation had reached its peak and everyone was quickly becoming bored with the whole situation), Arthur would casually attempt to figure out Gwaine's secret.

Obviously, he wasn't as inconspicuous or as 'casual' as he thought as Gwaine eventually noticed Arthur penetrating gazes and subtle glances and caught a habit of fidgeting and closing up under his watch. That, in turn, thwarted Arthur's plans, much to his annoyance, and ended with him sulking in his room for a few days much to the irritation of Merlin who spent those few days running back and forth between both Arthur and Gwaine, delivering snipe messages too each from the other and complaining irritably that he was not an errand boy.

There was a poisoned tree growing inside Gwaine and if he didn't want to mention it then Arthur would not pry.

For the trees did grow. It was another of Arthur's theory's that the poisoned trees grew with time, there branches blackening, twisting and deforming. If you hid your tree well enough then, hopefully, no harm would come of it but you would feel it, forever winding and twisting in your gut.

Gwen kept her tree hidden deep but Arthur liked to think that he had developed a sixth sense for these things and could tell, although it was buried well, it was still there, growing every day.

The thing about Gwen's secret, however, was that Arthur was convinced they were feelings more than an actually object. Gwen had a confusing habit of hiding her feelings and only showing them if provoked, it was something Arthur had noticed in his manservant sometimes, something he had wanted to put a stop to immediately in Merlin before it escalated.

When Morgana had left Gwen had kept up the front, only mentioning in passing how horrible the whole affair had been for her. Surprisingly, it was Gaius she had confided in, in the privacy of his chambers she had told in an almost inaudible whisper how betrayed and used she felt, how she wondered sometimes, when alone, what had happened to the Morgana of old and when had she vanished and left Gwen so alone.

Arthur had attempted to get Gwen to trust him enough to talk to him in the same way, to tell him her deepest feelings. He asked her every morning after breakfast how _she _was feeling today and every day Gwen would reply telling him she was 'very well, thank you Arthur'. If Arthur ever asked her to elaborate on this she would clam up instantly and mutter something about how the laundry was unusually stressful this morning. Arthur was never quite sure what she meant by that and never asked as it seemed to be, from the looks of Gwen's sour expression, something he would rather not delve into.

Out of all the secret keepers, poisoned tree harbourers, Arthur knew the largest seemed to surround his servant.

Merlin always seemed to be in the thick of things, didn't he? There was always _something _going on that Arthur didn't know about. What made it worst was the fact that everyone seemed to be involved but Arthur, he felt rather left out at times. He'd see them huddling in conspiring little groups, no doubt plotting amongst themselves and conveniently springing apart whenever Arthur rounded the corner.

Arthur found it in himself to be intimidating at one point and succeeded in cornering Merlin over the odd behaviour and questioned why exactly Merlin always seemed to be at the centre of these things. He hadn't minded so much when it had just been Merlin and Gaius, though he'd had his worries, dragging Gwen into it however had just been an unnecessary course of action. Then he'd watched helplessly as one by one each of his knights joined the secretive gang, it was as if they were starting some sort of coven.

Unfortunately, after he had Merlin backed against the wall, stammering excuses in his general direction while Arthur glared sternly downwards, (feeling slight pride over the fact that he was taller than his dithering servant), Gwen had happened upon them, backed up all Merlin's ridiculous excuses and then the two of them had run off back to the exclusive little witches coven to plot or mutter or cackle amongst themselves. Arthur had never felt more left out of a conversation in his life.

Like poisoned trees the secrets within Camelot grew and blackened. The danger of them hidden in plain sight yet studiously ignored. Everyone harboured a seed. Some, like Gwaine, had branches that were battered and torn, ripped leaves and charred bark. Others, such as Gwen, kept theirs buried far from sight, quietly and unnoticed they flourished yet the fruit they bear is inedible and poisonous. Then there are those with trees like Merlin's, tall and ominous, looming over you every day it's kept hidden, the branches twisted and crumbling yet reaching out in the hope of touching others, spreading its poison to them unintentionally.

Then you have the people like Arthur, whose trees are still only tiny seeds no bigger that your thumb.

Arthur hated secrets.

**Author's Note: I was pondering over the fact that Arthur never seems to keep secrets from anyone and appeared to be the only honest one out of the lot. I mean sure, Gwen's pretty honest but she always seems to be involved with**_** something**_**.**

**Reviews are very much appreciated! :) **

**~RaspberryAngel**


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